Thursday, May 8, 2008

Tim Hortens - What will firing a single mother solve?


On my way to grab my usual large coffee, double milk this morning, a coworker blatantly asked me if I felt comfortable purchasing something from a Corporation that fires single mothers.


I had not watched the news last night or this morning so of course I was interested in this statement. Opening up the front page of The Toronto Star, there it was, "Tim Hortons fires single mom over free Timbit".


In London Ontario, a single mother of four was fired from her job at Tim Hortens for giving an infant one timbit. One 16-cent mini donut! I thought I had missed something, so I read the article once more. Nothing in there did it say this woman assaulted a patron or employee, stole lunches for her or her friends or did anything that would justly constitute getting let go. Literally, this woman gave a small child a timbit because the child's mother - a regular - was having a hard day.


It seems to me, some people truly weren't provided with a heart when they were born. What kind of manager would terminate an employee for this behaviour? If anything at all, the woman only deserved a warning. The thought that this actually happened for this lame excuse has me wondering whether they were just waiting for this woman to cross the line somehow so they could let her go. There must have been some other underlying reason other than the fact that she simply gave away one timbit to one infant.


This brings me to a point I feel strongly about. I realize personality plays a large role in fitting in with coworkers at a job, but just because an employee and manager don't click, does this mean it's right to fire that person? Do some people use their upper management level and authority to the wrong advantage? Perhaps some managers need to learn how to resolve conflict in a constructive way rather than shove them out at the first sign of difference.


I feel for this poor woman and I only hope someone at Corporate Tim Hortens will realize what a cheap move this actually was. Perhaps they did this woman a favour and she will move on to sweeter things.

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